Fig. 8

Egr-1 knockout in mice reduces neuroinflammation and improves the survival rate in meningitic E. coli infection. A Electrochemiluminescence analysis of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, MCP1, and MIP2 in brain lysates from challenged WT and Egr-1^−/− mice. Data were collected and presented as mean ± SD. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001. B Western blot analysis of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression in brain lysates from challenged WT and Egr-1^−/− mice. β-actin was used as the loading control, and densitometry was performed to analyze the differences. C Immunofluorescence analysis of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in the brains of infected WT and Egr-1^−/− mice. Perivascular ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 were stained red. CD31 was specifically applied for labeling the microvessels in green. The cell nucleus was stained in blue with DAPI. Scale bar indicates 50 μm. D Histopathological examination of brain sections. The scale bar indicates 50 μm. E Survival of mice in each group was monitored for 36 h after tail vein injection of meningitic E. coli. Data was collected and shown as Kaplan–Meier survival curves (n = 10). Statistical analysis was carried out by log-rank (Mantel–Cox) test. ***p < 0.001